Themes

AfricaManagement.Org

· Cross-cultural Management

· African Interfaces

· Addressing MDGs

Themes in Management and Change in Africa

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Developing effective and appropriate management in sub-Saharan Africa is key to building responsive and responsible organizations and institutions. This is particularly the case in a sub-continent that has been slated as having incompetent and corrupt leaders, that has weak ineffective institutions that are inappropriate to producing wealth, apart for a minority of citizens, and incapable of addressing the needs of a wider stakeholder base in civil society.

The research is demonstrating that:

¨ The perceptions of the efficacy of management methods and styles, the way these are changing, and the desirability of these changes vary among ethnic and gender groups within countries, among African countries, and according to the relative influences of Western, African and post-colonial principles and practices.
There is a need to be aware of, and manage these differences within a complex and rapidly changing multicultural context, if management is going to be effective.

¨ Historical, cultural and power influences are leading to the development of different hybrid forms of management and organizations. Some are highly adaptive to the context in which they operate, some are mal-adaptive.
To develop effective management, there is a need to understand the dynamics of hybridisation and to learn from the successes of those adaptive organizations, and from the shortcomings of those that are mal-adaptive.

¨ For employees and managers there is often a split between the world of work and community/home life, whereby staff going into work in the morning step out of their own culture and enter a different one. This is not being managed well in many organizations, often leading to low levels of employee morale and alienation from the work place.
To develop effective and appropriate organizations within which to work, people management principles and practices should reconcile this split between work and community/home life.

¨ Organizations in Africa have to operate within a complexity of different stakeholder interests. Often the interests of different stakeholder groups are not adequately recognised and incorporated within the wider decision processes of the organization. Often attempts at developing a more democratic organization (for example, from Western principles) do not include a wider stakeholder base. Similarly, attempts at corporate responsibility programmes are not inclusive of community stakeholder interests, and sometime simply appear as cynical marketing ploys by foreign companies.
In order to develop effective organizations in Africa, there is a need to incorporate a wider stakeholder base into a truly participative decision process.

¨ Within organizations, cultural differences are not adequately managed within the different power relationships that operate. Different cultural groups may not have the same access to resources and decision processes.
There is a need to positively manage cross-cultural relationships within organizations in Africa, and to take account of power relations and unequal access to organizational resources. This could include programmes of equal opportunities and positive discrimination, as well as training programmes to ensure managers are aware and sensitised to the issues, and can develop appropriate competencies.

Management And Change In Africa Project

THEME 1: CONSTRAINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Understanding the complexity of operating constraints within Africa and turning these into opportunities [More Information...]

THEME 2: MULTIPLE STAKEHOLDERS

Accommodating the interests of multiple stakeholders [More Information....]

THEME 3: DECISION PROCESSES

Developing effective decision-making processes that give voice to these interests [More Information....]

THEME 4: COMMITMENT AND OPPORTUNITY

Obtaining commitment and motivation by reconciling conflicts between work and home/community life [More Information....]

THEME 5: APPROPRIATE MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

Assessing the appropriateness of management techniques in different socio-cultural contexts [More Information....]

THEME 6: MULTICULTURALISM

Managing the dynamics of multiculturalism [More Information....]

THEME 7: CROSS-CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Developing an awareness of own cultural values and the way they influence the management of people. [More Information....]

Bibliography